Benzema unfollowed most of the French players
Benzema currently only follows Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni, Kylian Mbappe, Raphael Varane, Marcus Thuram and the official France account on Instagram.
In particular, Camavinga and Tchouameni are currently Benzema's teammates at Real, while Varane used to have 10 years playing for the royal team. After the 2022 World Cup, Benzema once unfollowed Tchouameni, but just clicked follow again.
In real life, Benzema is close to Mbappe and has repeatedly expressed his desire for juniors to come to Real. However, the 24-year-old striker has extended his contract with PSG until 2025 with a weekly salary of $ 815,000 before the 2022 summer transfer window opens.
On Instagram, Benzema is still following his old teacher Zinedine Zidane - who was said to have turned down Man Utd or PSG to wait for the opportunity to lead France after the 2022 World Cup.
Marca did not rule out the possibility that Benzema's Instagram account was hacked. But this Spanish daily also suggested that the 35-year-old striker may have "manufactured" unfollowed his former teammates, before rumors that his presence made the French dressing room uncomfortable. .
According to L'Équipe, Benzema was in conflict with the French team from the time the army gathered to prepare for the 2022 World Cup. When he arrived at the Clairefontaine headquarters, the Real striker did not want to undergo a medical examination. Therefore, coach Didier Deschamps doubted the physical condition of the student, but Benzema insisted that he was fine and went with the whole team to Doha, Qatar.
But on November 19 - just three days before the match, Benzema was determined to have an injury to the left quadriceps muscle. Deschamps decided that he had to leave the team, and ordered the team's chief doctor Franck le Gall to inform the 35-year-old striker directly. Two other pillars of the team, including captain Hugo Lloris and striker Antoine Griezmann, also supported the decision.
Thus, the relationship between Benzema and Deschamps once again fractured. Benzema first joined the French team in 2007. But because of the scandal of using sex clips to blackmail teammate Mathieu Valbuena in 2015, he was banned by Deschamps for nearly six years. In May 2021, Deschamps put aside the feud, discussed with the French Football Federation (FFF) and then summoned Benzema again. Since then, he has played 16 more matches, scored 10 goals, with France in the quarter-finals of Euro 2021 and won the Nations League in the same year.
Deschamps said he will negotiate with the FFF about the future in the new year. However, Benzema didn't wait to see how those discussions played out and announced his retirement from the national team on Instagram on December 19 - the same day as his 35th birthday. "To get to where I am today, I am today. tried, but also made mistakes, and I'm proud of my journey," he wrote. "I have written my story, and the story with France is over."
Benzema made his first appearance for France in the match against Austria on March 28, 2007, when he replaced senior Djibril Cisse and then scored the only goal of the game after Samir Nasri's free kick. In his career, he only attended Euro 2008, 2012, World Cup 2014, and closed his international career with 37 goals in 97 matches for France.
